Cyber-security graduates now hot property on the job street

Demand for graduates specialising in cyber security has shot up to an all time high, and universities are introducing these programmes to cater to the growing requirements.Devina Sengupta&Sreeradha D Basu | ET Bureau | June 30, 2017, 09:17 IST

MUMBAI: A spate of recent ransomware attacks such as WannaCry and Petya has led corporate India scrambling to hire cyber-security experts to protect their IT systems.

Demand for graduates specialising in cyber security has shot up to an alltime high, and universities and educational institutes are introducing these programmes to cater to the growing requirements.

Students from the 2017 batch of the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University in Gandhinagar with degrees such as M. Tech in Cyber Security & Incident Response and M.Sc. in Digital Forensics & Information Assurance received 70 offers from companies such as Reliance Industries, EY, KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, Adobe and Axis Bank. Last year, only 30 students were placed.

“The demand for cyber-security specialists has shot up so much after the recent spate of cyber-attacks that six companies have already rolled out about 30 pre-placement offers to batch 2018,” said Digvijaysinh Rathod, training and placement officer at the university.

Ransomware attacks typically lock down computers until money is paid to free them. The Petya strike earlier this week came after the WannaCry attack in May, shutting down thousands of computers globally and in some cases, crippling company operations. Analysts said cyber-attacks are now common and India requires more than just traditional network specialists.

“We need advanced malware analysts, incident response analysts and specialists who are post-breach experts,” said Rajpreet Kaur, a senior research analyst at Gartner. To feed into this demand, colleges are rolling out cyber-security courses. The SP Jain School of High Technology in Mumbai started a cyber-security and data security specialist programme this year. Two months of this six-month course will be spent interning with various companies.

Demand is seen from almost all software companies and even from startups. “This has been our hottest branch as far as queries are concerned. We have to invest in technology and training experts who are already high in demand,” said Suneel Sharma, director of professional programmes at the institute.

The National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, too, had its first batch of students in M.Tech Computer Engineering specialising in cyber-security.

Rajkamal Vempati, head of human resources at Axis Bank, said its campus intake for cyber professionals has increased. It hired 20 people from five campuses including Centre for Development of Advanced Computing in Pune and Bengaluru, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, and Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology, Pune. It is in talks with two firms and plans to set up a skills academy with one of them for cyber-security training. The bank also gets its employees coached by specialised cyber-security experts.

Salaries for cyber-security professionals are higher than those offered for regular tech roles. “For campus recruits, we pay around Rs 7 lakh. For hiring in lateral roles, these professionals usually command a 15-20% premium,” said Vempati.

Consulting firms are on a talent buying spree across countries such as the US, the UK and Israel, which have trained specialists in cyber-security. In the past year, EY has hired expats at senior levels and tied up with global universities for both education and hiring purposes.

“Getting cyber-security specialists has never been more important. We have a team of around 450 and will hire 50-60% more in next one year,” said Neville M Dumasia, deputy advisory leader at EY India.

Competitor Deloitte has its own strategy. SV Nathan, chief talent officer at Deloitte India, said his firm prefers hiring people with 5-6 years of experience, who are certified in ethical hacking and well-versed in the business.

Nathan estimated industry demand for cyber-security experts could go up by 50% and beyond in light of the recent events.

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